1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to equipment for mobile-communications systems/networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention(s). Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
With the advent of mobile broadband, laptops, personal digital assistants, smart phones, and other mobile devices have acquired the capability of communicating with the Internet over mobile-communications networks. Due to this capability, mobile operators have become internet-service providers (ISPs) in addition to functioning in their traditional role of providing cellular voice services. As a result, mobile-communications networks are now exposed to many of the same virtual pathogens, such as viruses, worms, and Trojans, with which the wired ISPs have been dealing for a long time. In addition, 2.5G/3G/4G mobile-communications networks are targeted by pathogen strains that are specifically designed to exploit certain vulnerabilities in the architecture and/or protocols used in wireless networks.
The presence of an infected and/or misbehaving mobile device in a mobile-communications network can be detected, e.g., through intrusion-detection services. The term “intrusion detection” generally refers to a process of monitoring relevant events that occur in a network or computer system and analyzing these events for signs of possible anomalies or irregularities, such as actual violations or imminent threats of violation of security policies, use policies, and/or standard security practices. Anomalies and irregularities may have many different causes, such as malware activity, unauthorized access to the system(s) from the Internet, misuse of privileges by authorized users, and attempts to gain additional privileges without proper authorization.
Malware activity and propagation can be particularly damaging because malware can subject the communication system to a variety of attacks, such as distributed denial of service, overbilling, and spoofed PDP (Packet Data Protocol) context. The impact of a successful attack on a mobile-communications network can be very costly due to one or more of: (1) interrupted voice, data, and/or application service; (2) lost billable time; (3) lost goodwill and increased customer dissatisfaction; (4) increased volume of customer-service calls; and (5) legal ramifications, e.g., stemming from a compromised database of private subscriber information. It is therefore important to timely isolate and treat malicious mobile devices. However, the currently available treatment options are very limited and include, e.g., bringing the implicated device to a service location or a store for an on-site treatment.